"Call to Arms" by Forugh Farrokhzad
O Iranian woman, only you have remained
In the bonds of cruelty and wretchedness and misfortune.
It is your warm embracing bosom that has nurtured
Prideful and pompous man.
It is your joyous smile that bestows
On his heart vigor and warmth.
For that person who is your creation
To be preferred and superior is shameful.
Woman, take action because a world
Awaits and beckons you. (78)
Al-e Ahmad knew that this was a inversion of the problem. A reformation does not lead to the Industrial Revolution—indeed, to see cultural and economic history in such a way is to miss the theft of the wealth of the Americas for the glory of Europe, and the development of European liberalism in relationship to the degradation of the rights of the people in the colonies. (79)